Print“The effect suggests that Tetris may serve to interfere with the way that perceptual memories such as sights and sound are cemented in our brains.”
Psychiatrists at Oxford University have found that the classic video game Tetris may serve as a “cognitive vaccine” against the development of flashbacks following exposure to traumatic events.
Playing Tetris up to four hours post-trauma can help maintain deliberately remembered knowledge of a traumatic event while simultaneously minimizing the “intrusive, involuntary” feature of flashback memories, the researchers found.
The effect suggests that Tetris may serve to interfere with the way that perceptual memories such as sights and sound are cemented in our brains. That could serve to reduce the formation of such memories, diminishing their recurrence.
Although methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy have become well-established for treating post-traumatic stress disorder, the study’s authors note that such treatments are geared toward addressing symptoms once they’ve appeared rather than preventing the build-up of symptoms.
The study, published in the November 2010 issue of PLoS ONE, builds on a 2009 test that uncovered the flashback-reducing power of Tetris, but failed to compare it to other video games. In this expanded study, Tetris went head-to-head with Pub Quiz in a test of flashback-reducing mettle. Not only did the verbal and conceptual demands of Pub Quiz fail to reduce flashbacks among study participants, the game actually led to a significant increase in post-traumatic stress symptoms.
Contrary to established practice, discussion or debriefing sessions following a trauma may worsen rather than improve the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, the study’s authors suggest. That’s because verbal or conceptual interventions may actually worsen flashbacks during the consolidation of memories.
November 24, 2010
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-eternal_sunshine_of_the_tetris_mind.html
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